Tiffany LaToya Nowden has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the brutal stabbing of her wife, Russina Vale, while in bed in their San Carlos home.
Nowden, 40, of San Diego, admitted to personally using a knife in the slaying of Vale, 38, who was found dead June 5, 2014 in the Mission Gorge Road apartment.
Deputy District Attorney Matthew Dix said Nowden faces 20 years to life in state prison. Dix said she would receive 15 years to life for the murder plus an additional five years for Nowden having a prior conviction for residential burglary in 1996.
San Diego Superior Court Judge Fred Link set sentencing for Jan. 22, 2016. She remains in the Las Colinas Women’s Detention Facility without bail.
Link said the guilty plea was a surprise in that jury selection was about to start. It would have been an estimated three week trial in December, with the jury possibly deliberating close to Christmas. Attorneys in general do not like to have major trials during the holidays.
Vale was apparently stabbed while she was asleep as there were punctures through the bedspread. The couple was not living together at the time. One wound went through her arm and into her chest. Police found there was no forced entry into the apartment.
Nowden and Vale got married in 2013, but Vale sent out an email to her family and friends in April, 2014 saying the marriage was over. Vale worked at the Barona Casino, and Nowden once visited her there and was ordered to leave.
Nowden will likely spend most of her life in prison and may not be paroled until she is elderly. The crime didn’t occur during an argument or sudden circumstances and the wounds suggest Vale was attacked while asleep.
Her body was found underneath the covers in bed and it could have been pre-meditated. A jury could have convicted her of first-degree murder.
The victim’s mother, Heidi Alexander, testified Oct. 16, 2014 in the preliminary hearing that Nowden called her to say she had killed her daughter. Alexander said Nowden told her “I just lost it” three times as an explanation.
Nowden was a fugitive for several weeks and took the couple’s two dogs. She stayed with her aunt in San Bernardino for a while. The aunt said she had no idea she was wanted for murder.
The U.S. Marshal’s Fugitive Task Force arrested Nowden June 24, 2014 at a residence in the 2200 block of Market Street in Sherman Heights.
